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Monthly Outlook: July 2012

The Miami Heat became the 2012 NBA champions. The ESPN ballwashing of LeBron James was insufferable. As a Bulls fan, seeing our star go down and a conference rival win the title is… bitter.

We started playing DayZ (an ArmA II mod) and even got our own server. The premise is that it’s a super-realistic zombie apocalypse simulator, where you play on a persistent 225 km² map. The intention is to have an intense experience full of hardships and difficult decisions. Pick up weapons, or pick up food and medical supplies? Should I kill this guy, or can we work together to survive? In reality, the game is riddled with bugs, laughable exploits, and everyone shoots everyone else on sight without bothering to check for hostility. Still it’s one of the most unique and compelling experiences you can have in a PC game, as long as you can get through the learning curve. Much easier if you play with friends.

My roommate and I found a new apartment, which has nothing to do with Makigumo directly but I do think it’ll cut down on the amount of figures I can have on display. My dream is to have just a huge room in a house where I can display every figure I’ve bought, preferably in front of their boxes.

That Yoshimitsu figure I had set for June… nope! It arrived Monday.

In fact none of that stuff I had set for June panned out.

So I guess I’ll try to get that Yoshimitsu figure reviewed. I’ll also have Phat! Company’s Totori reviewed, though that one’s going to Tomopop. I’d be willing to do two shoots of that one, though.

As for anime, I’ve been slowly re-watching Serial Experiments Lain. It’s a great series from 1998 (in fact I bought the first volume of this on VHS when it was licensed by Pioneer) that I never got around to fully reviewing. It has always been one of my favorite shows, exploring the idea of increased interpersonal connectivity in the internet age. Lain is moody, creepy, and prescient with its commentary of the digital age, though its cyberpunk/grunge aesthetic can look a bit dated today. Most of all I love how unabashedly experimental this show is, from its story to its use of mixed media, music, even down to its character designs. This is one of the shows that really got me hooked on anime, so I’m very much looking forward to soaking it all in again.